Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com

Friday, July 17, 2009

In the wake of his controversial plans to re-open the former "Uncle Bill's" as an organic food store, Lennie Chism fired off an email to a number of people, claiming "retaliation" by Council Member Don Samuels because an inspector came to eyeball the building Lennie "possesses" (but apparently no longer owns) at 1901 Glenwood Ave.

The email (with some punctuation fixes) said as follows...As a retaliatory move to my opposition of the demolition of the building formerly known as "Uncle Bill's," Council Member Don Samuels instructed Ricardo Cervantes to send Ron Martin, Minneapolis Licensing Inspector of Licensing and Consumer Services to inspect and take pictures of 1901 Glenwood Ave today before the pubic meeting regarding the demolition of the building formerly known as "Uncle Bill's."

This information was obtained from Ron Martin as he was taking pictures of the building.

It is clear, these tactics are designed to intimidate, and that Council Member Samuels will do any and everything (sic) to those who oppose his wishes in the 5th Ward. I look forward to asking questions of Samuels tonight as Ron Martin stated he would be at the public meeting 1315 Penn Ave. North.

7 comments:

guynmpls
said...

Hey. Just a thought.

If an inspector wants to come by my place of residence and look around, so be it. I have nothing to hide, I take care of my property and I have nothing to be ashamed of. If something isn't right, let me know, I'll fix it.

It seems to me an inspector coming is only a big deal if you're doing something wrong or are hiding something.

Wouldn't you think that if you're pitching a plan to rehab a building, then an inspection of the state of the other buildings you own(ed) is not only relevant but completely prudent, and you should actually expect such procedure?

The fact that Lennie is incapable of understanding that the fact that he has allowed his Glenwood property to become an urban blight of exactly the type he is promising everyone that it is completely IMPOSSIBLE that he will allow the Uncle Bill's property to become is itself a clear indication of why no community should ever trust him to develop any property, anywhere. This is a disconnect so profound that, frankly, it makes him look like something of a psychopath.